Establishing an implementation schedule during EDI partnership
After all major decisions have been made in terms of the VICS EDI business design and equipment and software considerations, an implementation schedule can be prepared. Identify the capabilities that need to be developed and list the tasks necessary to accomplish the implementation.
Selecting EDI Trading Partners
The criteria for determining an initial trading partner will vary from company to company. In many cases, this decision is an integral part of the decision to implement VICS EDI. Business considerations, such as competitive pressures and business relationships between companies often impact a company’s decision to implement VICS EDI. However, an initial trading partner should be a company with which good business relationships exist, and with which the development team is comfortable working. It is highly recommended that an initial trading partner be a company already experienced with VICS EDI.
This experience will make testing and implementation less complicated and troublesome. Once the initial trading partner has been selected, implementation is coordinated with this partner. This can best be achieved by face-to-face meetings, to ensure a mutual understanding of the information being passed to each other and how that information will be used by each other. These meetings may occur a number of times during implementation to share progress reports and reexamine business issues. If both partners are experienced EDI users the exchange of mapping requirements may be sufficient.
Obtaining contact information
It is important to exchange contact information when a new VICS EDI partnership is established. Ideally, each partner should provide a primary and a backup contact person, in order to minimize the time to resolve a problem. Some companies may have multiple contacts, depending on the structure of their VICS EDI implementation. For example, there might be one contact in the programming area, another in the communications area, and another in the user department.
Exchanging communications information
The following information should be exchanged between trading partners during the EDI implementation planning stage:
- If a VAN is not being used, computer equipment involved (brand, model, and operating system) and modem telephone number
- If a VAN is being used, VAN to be used
- Communications identification (obtained from the UCC)
- Communications passwords (if required)
- Identifications for all company entities
- Addresses of multiple receiving locations (if applicable)
- Daily timing for transmission and receipt of data
- VICS EDI version to be implemented
- Date to start testing
- Implementation date
For each task listed, don’t forget to assign responsibility and set a completion date.
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